In the wake of State Government’s decision to ban sand mining from Narmada and other rivers, around 8,000 stone crusher plants in the State have come forward to fulfil the sand demand by producing stone sand. Metros like Mumbai and other cities are already using stone sand which is not only cost effective and eco-friendly but as compared to river sand it has double the strength. The stone crusher industry, which is going through bad patch, need additional investment worth Rs15 lakh to Rs1 crore per plant to build stone sand capacity and a 50 per cent subsidy on this investment said Madhya Pradesh Stone Crusher Industries Association president Devender Pal Singh Chawla while addressing media persons here on Saturday.
Welcoming the State Government decision to declare river Narmada a live entity and banning the illegal sand mining, Chawla reminded of similar orders issued by National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the Supreme Court in 2015.
He said the State government’s step will help save ecology of river Narmada. Chawla further said that although the stone crusher plants have already begun producing stone sand with their limited resources but to step up the production to meet the demand they need machinery and equipments costing Rs10 to 15 lakh. Since the industry is not in good financial state it needs helping hand from State government. “A 50 per cent subsidy will immensely help the industry to stand up and move forward”, he observed.
Chawla also raised the issue of proposed GST of 28 per cent on fly ash bricks. He opined that “It will make eco friendly fly ash bricks costlier than kiln bricks. If it happens the fly ash use will stop, that is already posing serious environmental threat and secondly it will further promote the polluting kilns.”
He said their Association has already represented the issue with State and Central government departments and ministries and they hope that the 28 per cent tax will definitely be withdrawn.